Global Report on Trafficking in Persons
- Document number
- 1968
- Date
- 2009
- Title
- Global Report on Trafficking in Persons
- Author/publisher
- UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Research/Study/Analysis,
- Keywords
- Trafficking process, Recruitment, Transportation, Transit, Transfer, Consent, Palermo protocol; Definition of (trafficking), Root Causes, Risk Groups, Vulnerability, Pull factors, Push factors, Sending/Receiving countries, UN Gift, Global Initiative to fight Human Trafficking
- Summary
- In 2007, UNODC conducted, in the framework of the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), a study on the state of the world’s response to the crime of human trafficking. This report offers an unprecedented view of the available information on the state of the world’s response to human trafficking, including near-comprehensive data on national legislative and enforcement activity. Over the course of a few months in 2007 and 2008, UNODC gathered information concerning 155 countries and territories. With a few notable exceptions, nearly all of the larger states participated.
This report summarizes this information, starting with a discussion of the global and regional figures and closing with country profiles for participating nations. According to the Report, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. Surprisingly, in 30% of the countries which provided information on the gender of traffickers, women make up the largest proportion of traffickers. In some parts of the world, women trafficking women is the norm. The second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour (18%), although this may be a misrepresentation because forced labour is less frequently detected and reported than trafficking for sexual exploitation. Worldwide, almost 20% of all trafficking victims are children. However, in some parts of Africa and the Mekong region, children are the majority (up to 100% in parts of West Africa). Although trafficking seems to imply people moving across continents, most exploitation takes place close to home. Data show intra-regional and domestic trafficking are the major forms of trafficking in persons. The United Nations Protocol against Trafficking in Persons - the foremost international agreement in this area - entered into force in 2003. The Report shows that in the past few years the number of Member States seriously implementing the Protocol has more than doubled (from 54 to 125 out of the 155 States covered). However, there are still many countries that lack the necessary legal instruments or political will. - Related documents